The Crash
by Edengwen
Summary: On the coldest day of the year Sam and Ed are on patrol however just as they get out of range they are hit by a van. Will they survive the crash or will the cold weather be more dangerous than the crash? Why did it happen? And will Ed forgive himself as he was driving when Sam falls seriously ill?


**The Crash**

It was the coldest day of the year but luckily the barn had good heating so they teams didn't freeze as the snow had kept falling. The roads had become even more dangerous and it looked like the criminals didn't want to be out in this weather at all as when Team One had come in, Kira had reported that Team Three and Four hadn't got a single call. However Team One quickly got ready and went for their normal team briefing in the warm briefing room.

"Boss, I don't think Babycakes is going to work in this weather boss. And I don't want to risk her freezing out there." Spike had said in Team One's briefing, this statement had caused most of the team to burst out laughing; only Ed and Greg could keep a straight face at this statement. "I am sure she will be fine Spike." Greg said smiling at the unhappy look that Spike had pulled at the rest of the team. Sam had been the first one to be able to control himself to speak. "Spike, you do know that new kit that I got you can work in this weather." Spike looked at Sam, silently telling him to 'shut up.' This confused Sam as he didn't understand what he did wrong.

"What new kit?" Ed asked turning to look at Sam to Spike looking for the answer. "Nothing, he got me some new tread for her as the others were damaged on a call." Spike said very quickly. Greg and Ed both looked at each other knowing very well that Spike was lying as he couldn't lie very well to them. "Sam?" Greg said looking straight at their rookie who sighed and then sent an apologetic look before answering.

"I might have called in a favour from a friend to donate some of the new tec in bomb detection to improve Babycakes so it could pick up even the smallest of traces. I thought he told you about it." Spike's head fell and Ed and Greg looked at him. "You did fail to inform us about that didn't you Constable Scarlatti?" Ed asked crossing his arms. "Thanks Samtastic" Spike muttered and Sam smiled nodding and saying, "You're welcome Spike."

At the end of the briefing Sam and Spike argued about keeping the details about the new parts quiet but after ten minutes Ed had enough of it physically dragged Sam out on patrol. As Spike had looked horrified at the idea about going outside but luckily for him, Sam had agreed to go as he didn't mind the cold. Sam had been through cold survival training with the Special Forces and Ed had been use to this weather. So leaving the rest of the team at the barn they hit the streets, but there were no hot calls or any calls to help any officers. After two hours Ed and Sam had parked near one of the main roads, both bored out of their minds.

"I'm bored." Sam muttered and gave a great sigh. Ed smiled, "What would you be doing if you were still in the army?" Ed asked looking over at Sam. Sam sighed again and answered him. "Ever overseas on a mission or having some down time or home redoing my cold weather survival training for the ninth time." Ed smiled and laughed. "What is it like?"

"The training?" Sam asked, and as Ed nodded he answered him. "Well, the key is not thinking about the cold. To keep your mind working through the cold and to train it to work things out when you can't feel your bloody hands that it the key." Ed nodded and then they started moving again as Ed didn't want the SUV to freeze up. They wouldn't be happy if they had to walk back to the barn in full kit with weapons. As they travelled down one of the country roads just out of the city they started talking about what they were going to go with their week off. "Well trying to get Clark to talk to me will be the best time and of course I miss being with Sophie. But I bet that she would want rid of me at the end." He said laughing however then he saw Sam's face go blank. "What you doing Sam? Anything fun?" Ed asked looking over at him.

"Don't much; General has taken my mother away for their wedding anniversary. Think they are in England, and then his has a meeting with the British Army Generals about some training events. My sister is traveling down south so… guess I might try to catch up with some of my friends from the army. I know Jay is between tours."

Ed looked at Sam; it had to be hard not to see your family for a long time and he knew that Sam and his father didn't get on very well. But also only hoping to meet up with some friends, it wasn't right that Sam spent a week on his home. "That is prefect then. Sophie has been going on about having you over for dinner for a bit. Fancy coming over and helping me with the mountain of jobs she needs doing?" He asked. Ed then caught a little bit of hope in Sam's eyes as he nodded. Ed smiled and looked back to the road; "We are out of range now." Sam said pocketing his phone again, so they needed to turn around soon as they had gone out of range when all Ed heard from Sam was.

"ED WATCH OUT!" Before they both fell into darkness.

An Hour Later…

Ed felt like his head had been used as a ball in a game of baseball, and as he opened his eyes he found his eye site was blurry. He groaned as he felt his head he could feel something warm oozing from a deep cut to his head. His eye sight was bad as he found everything was upside down. _'Wait I am upside down.'_ Ed thought and then he opened his eyes wider to find that the SUV had flipped. He saw through the cracked widescreen that there was a white van that had broken apart only a few meters from him. Ed could see the driver dead hanging from his door window. And then he remembered someone shouting at him before everything went blank. "Sam." He muttered and then remembered that Sam had been with him.

"Sam." He shouted and then looked at the seat where Sam was. The scene made him feel sick when he was that Sam's head was ached in blood from a huge cut that split his head. He was unconscious and not moving. But Ed could hear the rasping sound of Sam breathing. At least Ed could tell that Sam was still with him. Ed needed to check Sam properly but he couldn't from the angle he was in. So mentally checking himself for his own injures to make sure that he would be able to help Sam without nearly killing himself. He knew that his head was bleeding but also he knew that he had at least three broken or cracked ribs. Also he thought that maybe he had broken his collarbone, hopefully not too bad. Then he tried to undo his seatbelt but couldn't. It was stuck. He was trying to slow his breathing down and started to go into his sniper breathing as the stress of moving had caused him pain on his already broken ribs. However he wasn't giving in. As he felt through his pockets for anything that could help him, his hand fell over his tack knife. Ed knew that by cutting his seatbelt would make him drop and that was going to hurt but he didn't know of any other way he was getting down. Ed placed the blade on the seatbelt itself and took in another breath before holding his breath as he cut through it. Ed quickly tried to stop himself from falling too badly but sadly as he turned to his side and hit the roof he felt a burst of pain rib through his chest and side. He groaned and rolled onto his back, he needed a minute to stop the new intense pain. He knew that they were in trouble, real trouble. No one knew where they were as they weren't on a call and Ed knew they didn't have signal. Ed closed his eyes and started his sniper breathing and he fell back into darkness and the freedom of pain.

Then as he opened his eyes again he found that he had passed out. He looked at where the sun was and it was dropping. "How long…?" Ed said, and he quickly shock out the sleep from his head. He needed to check on Sam. "Sam…Sammo…can you hear me?" Ed said as he crawled to Sam who was still in his seat. He quickly checked Sam's pulse on his neck, it was there. Ed was worried about moving Sam at all in case the hit had broken his back or neck but he knew that he needed too. He quickly placed himself so that Sam would drop onto him and then cut the belt. Sam quickly fell onto him, and Ed laid him down the ground as carefully as he could, with Sam's head closest to him so he could check for any brain injuries first. He found that like himself Sam had a head injury but also a broken shoulder and five broken ribs. He knew very well that Sam was more likely to have some internal bleeding as from the way that Sam's door had crumbled into his seat. It had taken the whole force of the crash.

Ed then heard a groan; he looked down and saw that Sam was waking up. Ed knew that they were in trouble. Big trouble as the temperature had dropped as the night was closing in.

"Ed?" Sam groaned as his rubbed his hand over his head, wincing as he touched the deep cut and opening his eyes to see his hand turn red with his own blood but didn't panic. "Hey buddy. I thought you didn't sleep on the job?" Ed said trying to lighten the mood, it seem to help as Sam lightly smiled. "How's the other driver?" Sam asked and Ed glad that Sam could remember what had happened but then sighed. "Dead. I haven't checked but from what I can see is that he died on impact." Sam nodded and then looked back at Ed. "We still out of range?" Sam muttered as he left what remainder of his strength drop suddenly. Ed again checked for any injures but this time he asked Sam but he could tell that the young man was passing out again and he needed to know now. _'Sam always followed orders.'_ He thought.

"Sam I need your injury information now." Ed said trying to give his normal tone when giving an order. "Broken right shoulder, five broken ribs plus three cracked however none have hit anything. Concussion, cut on top of my head, bleeding heavily but slowing. Killer head ache and possibly and only possibly I think my stomach, liver and right kidney is bleeding." At these words Ed looked worriedly at Sam. "Ed we can't do anything about it now. What we need to focus is getting help and keeping alive." Sam said sternly. Ed nodded knowing that sooner or later Greg will know they have been out of contact and set up a search. But knowing Greg that will already be in motion as he had agreed to check in every hour and he was going to check in before everything had happened. He had a bet that Greg would get the whole department looking for them.

"Can you help me up?" Sam asked knowing that he was too weak to do it himself. Ed looked down at Sam and was about to argue with him but then Sam answered before he could get a word in. "I need to raise my head as I have lost feeling to my feet coz the temperature is dropping." Ed then nodded and helped Sam to lean against his seat. Even wrapped in all of their kit, Ed and Sam were now starting to feel the cold. With the windows both smashed and the windscreen cracked cold air was leaking in. "Do we have any water?" Sam asked. However Ed was too busy looking through the back of the SUV to find anything that could keep them warm or help in any way. But the SUV wasn't kitted out for days like this. With their weapons and the gun rank he knew he would find little. But Ed did find a first aid kit that they always carried and two thermal blankets with enough water to last them for a bit. "Here." Ed said passing Sam one of the bottles of water, which he opened and poured a little bit into his mouth before Ed came back.

"Let me clean that cut on your head." Ed said moving towards Sam and looking at the deep gash on Sam's head. He carefully cleaned off the dry blood trying not to make the cut bleed again as it seemed to have stopped. But it needed stitching up as it was down on the muscle, _'no wonder he has a head ache'_ Ed thought. "Ok Sammo that is all I can go. But that these." Ed said passing Sam some painkillers which Sam took gladly and quickly popped the two pills into his mouth. He past Sam one of the thermal blankets that he found and watched as Sam clearly wrapped himself with it which he followed.

For the next three minutes they sat in silence, both trying to work out how they were going to get out of this without killing themselves. It was Sam then who spoke first, "Do you think that our coms will work?" Ed looked at him he then looked at his radio to find it smashed and then looked at Sam who had pulled his out to find it in the same condition. The way that the SUV had rolled must have been the reason for their radio not working. "Crap." Ed said throwing his radio across the SUV and it landed close to the driver's door. Sam just sighed and then winced as he moved his body, Ed watched carefully. He was now worried about him. _'How could I have missed that van?_ ' Ed thought watching Sam move his body only a little and see him unable to hide his pain. "I am going to see if I can get signal." Ed said and Sam looked at him worried. "I wouldn't be long." Sam sighed and nodded. "Be careful." Ed nodded back and then climbed out of the passenger window and started moving towards the top of the road. The freezing wind had started and as Ed pulled out his phone he found his fingers were too cold to work right. He still didn't have signal. I looked at the white landscape before him to see no sign of live.

With the wind, Ed knew that the chopper couldn't fly in this weather so they could only be found by a search team on land. Ed also knew that he had to get back to Sam. As he walked back he could make out the wrecked however to find both vehicles now covered with snow. Walking past their SUV towards the other van, he found that he was right. The driver was dead, and as soon as Ed got close, he could smell the scent of beer all over the cab and the driver. "Bloody idiot." He muttered as he closed the driver's eyes. Shaking his head Ed walked back to the SUV, however finding the other driver drunk made himself feel a little better but not a lot, he was driving the SUV. And now Sam was hurt, and he couldn't shake the guilt of the whole event. As he climbed back in he found Sam with both of the radios, his in pieces it looked like he was trying to make his work. "Do you know what you are doing coz Spike will kill you?" Ed said with a smile. Sam grinned back, but didn't stop working.

Ed was cold; he was colder than he ever felt before. However as he watch Sam work, he looked confused. "What are you doing?" Ed finally asked. "Keeping my mind working, did this before put two radios together to make one work but that was in warmer temperatures than this and I was getting shot at but it wouldn't work until it picks up a signal." Sam answered not looking at Ed but grinning. Ed chuckled but then through about what Sam had said about keeping your mind active during his training. "Need a hand?" Ed asked moving away from the window as the wind had started to blow into the car. "Nor I got it. Why don't you try to keep the wind out?" Sam said looking at him; it was then that Ed saw that Sam had gotten paler.

Ed didn't have the heart to argue with Sam as he looked too pale, he nodded and got to work. He quickly blocked up the driver's window so at least Sam would be protected from the wind as he already guessed that Sam's internal bleeding or worse, a head injury. As he climbed back into the SUV and quickly tapped his thermal blanket over the window to stop any wind. Sam was still working on the radio and a small smile came across his face and he looked up at Ed. "I think that is it but I am losing the light. Think we are staying the night?" Ed sighed and nodded. Sam placed the radio down next to him and the looked at Ed. "This isn't your fault you know that. The crash. That drive came out of no way, you couldn't have stopped in time." Ed sighed and looked sternly at Sam. "I should have seen the van Sam. I was driving…" Ed started but Sam stopped him. "Ed I was driving a truck in Afghanistan when we hit an IED. What it my fault?" Sam said as he winced as he moved. "Sam stop moving and that isn't the same thing. I should have watched the road. I didn't." Ed said using some tone. "Ed what you would say if I was driving?" Sam asked getting tired and feeling his body shutting down. "Not to blame yourself but…" Ed started looking at him hands which were covered by a bit of blood. He knew it was a mixture of his, Sam's and the other driver's blood. "But nothing Ed. You are not to be blamed." Sam said closing his eyes. Ed went to say something back only to find that Sam had fallen asleep or passed out. He could tell which as he covered him with the only remaining thermal blanket. "Stay strong Sam." Ed muttered, as he sat down next to Sam and closed his eyes. Ed dreamt of him seeing Sophie. But that dream disappeared as he woke up, and found that he was still there in the SUV. He was still in the nightmare. Out of the windscreen Ed could see the sun already in the sky. It was morning. He was still cold but with Sam's advice about working through the weather.

He then turned and what he saw scared him. Sam was paler than ever and his skin was ice cold, he quickly laid him down and placed his feet higher knowing that he needed to keep Sam from going into shock. "Come on Sammo, you are not giving in now. You have survived too much to die here." Ed kept repeating it over and over again. It was then that he heard a straight sound; he found that it was the radio that Sam had fixed. And the sound was a broken sound of Spike. "Ed...or…Sam….can….ear….us?" Ed smiled at Sam.

"Spike its Ed can you hear me?" Ed asked hoping that Sam had done it. "Where are you Ed?" Ed smiled at the fact that he had heard a whole sentence. After given them the location he had called for an officer down and was critical, he spent the next ten minutes trying to wake Sam up. However all his tries failed. Then he heard the sound of police sirens, and the sound of ties on the road stopping suddenly.

"Ed? Sam?" Ed heard Greg shout as the doors of the SUVs open and close. "Greg!" Ed shouted taking down the blanket and pulling himself from the car. "Ed! You ok?" He heard Wordy and Greg say as they got up to him. "I'm fine. But Sam isn't. He has internal bleeding and passed out last night, his temperature is too low." Ed said but Greg stopped him from going back. "Ed we need you to get checked out too." Greg said as they watched as fire crews come into and quickly with the help from the Spike who had gone in to see Sam. Ed nodded and allowed himself to be pulled to one of the ambulance. They watched as the medics had quickly carried Sam into the next ambulance with fear written all over Spike's face. "Go with him Spike." Greg called to him. Spike nodded and climbed into the ambulance which quickly drove away.

"You did good Eddie." Greg said looking at his friend. "Boss, other guy is DOA. But that thing stinks of beer has to be over the limit." Wordy said appearing at Greg's side as the medic checked Ed over. "He needs a hospital." The medic said and Greg nodded. "We will meet you there." Greg said patting Ed's shoulder before leaving him in the hands of the medical crew.

In the hospital Ed was quickly x-rayed and he was right about his own injuries. He had broken three ribs and cracked his collarbone so he had been told to keep it in a sling for a couple of months so it could heal, and his head was stitched up. He hoped that it didn't scar after changing into his clothes that Wordy had gotten out of his locker which were warmer and dry he made his way to find the team. "Have you heard anything about Sam?" He asked as he found the rest of the team in one of the waiting rooms. "He is in surgery. You were right about the internal bleeding, what the scene told us was that Sam's side took the whole force of the hit. And Wordy was right about the other driver, blood test came back and he was over triple the limit." Greg explained to Ed. Ed sat next to Wordy until Sophie came running in giving Ed the strongest hug she could. "I am fine Soph. Really." He said knowing that was far from the truth. "Ok. I was so worried Eddie." She muttered into his chest. "But you're ok?" She asked as she pulled away. He nodded giving her a small smile. "Just waiting for news on Sam." He said and she nodded sitting next to him. The SRU were family, so she would wait with him.

"Family of Samuel Braddock?" A doctor said waiting into the waiting room. "We are his team; we have been unable to contact his family." Greg said but then Ed answered quickly. "They are in England; Sam said something about the General having a meeting with the British." The doctor nodded and then looked at his chart. "Well his is a very lucky man. He had some serious internal bleeding but we were able to stop it very quickly. He also has six broken ribs and three cracked however they weren't too badly damage to cause any problems. He also has a concussion and a deep gash on his head. The gash we have cleaned and stitched but it shouldn't scar too badly. As for the concussion, we will keep him in for 72 hrs and then we would like him to stay with someone in case he falls unwell again because of it and to make sure he has enough blood back in his system." The team nodded, Sophie quickly spoke up. "He will stay with us. We have a spare room, and I am at home for the holidays so I will keep an eye on him." The doctor smiled and nodded. Ed gave Sophie's hand a squeeze her hand in a silent thank you.

"When can we see him?" Wordy asked looking at the doctor. "We are moving him to a room now. I will ask one of the nurses to come and get you." They thanked the doctor and before anyone else could say anything Spike spoke up. "Ed how did you fix the radio? Even I found make that thing work." Ed smiled and his grin made Greg feel a little better that his friend wasn't blaming himself too much. "It wasn't me Spike. Sam did it. Confused me too but then he said that he had done it before but in warmer weather and bullets were been aimed and fired at him." They all smiled at that. That little bit of training had saved them and they all knew it. The nurse came quickly and led them to Sam who was awake and at the sight of Ed held up his hands in defence. "I did tell you that I thought I had internal bleeding." The team looked between the two as Ed's face hardened. "You knew you were, didn't you?" Ed asked giving Sam a serious look.

"Maybe. But what could we have done Ed? Nothing." Sam said trying to calm the storm before it came. "We are going to have a talk later Braddock." The team broke into laughter and Sam and Ed smiled at each other. They had survived and weren't going to let the events stop them from moving on. Ed had learnt from Sam, he knew that and it had saved him. As the team filled out as Sam had fallen to sleep Ed stayed with him. "Thank Sammo. I mean it. Thanks." Ed muttered as he fell into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
